


temper

by wormware



Category: Rockman.EXE | Mega Man Battle Network
Genre: Canon - Video Game, Canon Compliant, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-09
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:53:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25160428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wormware/pseuds/wormware
Summary: BN2. In Netopia. Megaman (doesn't) pick his battles.
Relationships: Hikari Netto | Lan Hikari & Rockman.EXE | MegaMan.EXE
Comments: 4
Kudos: 11





	temper

"Stupid kid! You couldn't beat me if you tried! Thanks for the chips from your pack! See ya!"

The thief's laughter trails behind him over the roar of his car's engine.

"Give me my chips back!" Lan screams at the quickly-disappearing bumper of the car.

Even from inside the PET, Megaman knows it's a lost cause. "He left. Lan? Let's go to the hotel and think of a plan..." He tries not to sound as despondent as he feels.

Once in the hotel, however, Lan's temper gets the better of him.

"It's your fault, Megaman!" he yells, and Megaman has to fight his momentary self-doubt. Lan is being unfair, he knows, and he won't just take it. But Lan keeps going.

"As long as you're safe in your PET, you don't care, do you?"

Those words hurt more than anything else. Doesn't Lan know what he would give to not be in the PET all the time? To not be only the ones and zeroes of a boy who was once whole?

"Hey!" he shouts, because he's - he can't help but be taken aback. "That's not very nice!"

"I don't feel like being very nice!"

When Lan throws the PET onto the ground, it doesn't hurt. The digital world of the PET isn't moored to the real world, after all. But Megaman still feels rattled.

In Lan's absence, he feels guilty for snapping back. For not sympathizing with misfortune after misfortune the way a proper navi should.

_The way a proper navi should._

God. Megaman buries his face in his hands. He doesn't know the extent of the modifications that Dad made to his programming, to make it possible for him to function in the PET. He doesn't know anymore what's him and what's the navi etiquette buried in his brain.

He's angry. He's angry. He's angry because Lan's acting like a _child_ , and he's angry because he doesn't deserve to have all the responsibility pushed on him like this, when he's only one boy. He's angry because this is not his _fault_.

"But isn't it?" says what might be his conscience, or what might be his programming. "Remember, you're not a boy anymore. This is your duty now."

Is there a difference between the two when you _are_ the program? After ten years, Megaman still doesn't know.

"Fighting is normal," a part of him tries to reason. "Frustration with your navigator is normal. It's fine to be angry, but when he comes back, you have to be ready to hear him out."

"But I don't want to hear him out!" Megaman shouts into his empty PET. "Why do I have be ready to hear anything from him! He's the one who started it!"

He knows it's true, but saying so brings on a horrible guilt. This isn't like him. Isn't it? He doesn't want to make nice after Lan said such terrible things. Doesn't he? Isn't Lan his brother, aside from his operator? Don't brothers make up after fights?

It's only when he hears the familiar sound of a jack clicking into Lan's PET that he realizes that he's clutching his head. And then, in a panic, he digs through his memory files to check if Lan had locked his hotel door after himself.

"Who's there?"

Something charges at him, snarling and growling, and Megaman topples like so many cards without Lan's battlechips.

He peppers the virus with buster shots as fast as he can, but his throat catches when he feels a program execute from above him, scouring for personal data.

"Stop it!" he cries, and his voice cracks when the virus tears a gash in his arm.

His heart sinks when he hears the invader mutter, "Got it," and abruptly, the program disappears, leaving only the virus digging its claws ever deeper into his body.

He doesn't stop shooting until it's so much digital debris, but by then it's far, far too late. The data is gone, and Megaman has only to look into the PET's key files to discover a missing space where once was Lan's passport.

His internal clock tells him it's a half hour after the assault when Lan comes barreling back with an uncharacteristic apology on his tongue and concern in his eyes.

Megaman's too tired to fight anymore. "It serves me right for yelling at you," he says. After all, this is the universe sending him a message, isn't it?

It doesn't matter that Lan decides that it's his own fault in the end. "Will you forgive me?" he asks, and what else can Megaman say? Lan restored him after Megaman snapped back. Lan _came back_ instead of leaving his PET behind like the toys lying sad and decrepit in ACDC Park.

"You bet!" he says. Angry or not, wronged or not, Lan is all he has.

Whether it's his conscience or his programming telling him so, he knows it's the truth. As long as he can do what Lan can't, he has to temper his feelings, because Lan needs him too.


End file.
